This invention relates to an apparatus comprising a periodically movable unit for massaging the skin of a person being treated and driving means for setting this unit in motion.
I have occupied myself for years with bioelectric processes and their therapeutical evaluation. Thus, I have recognized the medical possibilities of a magnetic field about 20 years ago and was one of the first to offer concrete evidence of its effects which was confirmed by the University of Munchen, Germany in a detailed scientific work.
Furthermore, I have occupied myself with electric fields and their therapeutical applicability. Thus, in my German Pat. No. 1,177,282, laid open on Sept. 3, 1964, I disclosed the application of a dressing for the treatment of wounds, which dressing bears on a face thereof provided with an adhesive, a flexible capacitor, preferably consisting of two metal layers, e.g. silver foil applied on both sides of a strip of paper serving as dielectric layer, in order to achieve relaxation of tension and inhibition of inflammation, e.g. of the joints such as periarthritis, epicondylitis and also in the treatment of digenerative arthrosis.
In my German Pat. No. 1,171,095, laid open on May 27, 1964, I described the beneficial cumulative effects of heat, for instance applied in the form of a heating pad, and of an electric direct voltage field or a low-frequency alternating field which field is applied to the heated body portion by means of electrodes which are insulated against the body of the person to be treated.
In this case at least two heating pads should be applied on both sides of a body portion to be treated, and direct current, pulsating direct current or alternating current from the publics electric mains can be applied to the heating pads with opposite polarity to produce an electric field between them. Also, when alternating current is fed to the heating pads, at least one of the latter is provided with an additional lead connected to a direct voltage potential, thus enabling formation of a well-defined electrostatic field, preferably, this lead is connected to a rectifier fed with alternating voltage from the mains.
The main work of the inventor as a physician was in chirotherapy in which a special kind of massage is often carried out. On the basis of his knowledge in the field of electrotherapy, especially of treatment with electric fields, he conceived the usefulness of combining manual therapy with electrotherapeutical measures and it is the object of the instant invention to find a combination of both.
A variety of different massage apparatus are in the market. The most common type of these apparatus is a vibrator-type massage apparatus which runs on alternating current and in which the electric vibrations are transformed into mechanical vibrations by means of a coil and an armature and are then transmitted to the vibrator head. The vibrator head is placed on the body of the person to be treated and transmits its vertical vibrations to it.
An evident drawback of the mechanical massage compared with the manual massage resided up to now in the fact that it could not be adequately adapted to the anatomical facts and the different indications of the person being treated.
Thus, for instance, the mechanical massage of persons of different age or different height or corpulence is presently carried out with the same frequency and intensity. In order to achieve the same in-depth effect in the case of corpulent persons, a larger force is needed than with slim persons, slim persons often experience even a normal massage as unpleasant. Even more important is the adaptation to the different types of diseases, status of sickness and types of tissues.